Managing Jobs

16 minute read

What is a Job?

Submitting and managing jobs is at the heart of using the cluster. A ‘job’ refers to the script, pipeline or experiment that you run on the nodes in the cluster.

Partitions

Jobs are submitted to so-called partitions (or queues). Each partition is a group of nodes, often with similar hardware specifications (e.g. CPU or RAM configurations). The quota policies applying to each partitions are outlined on the Queue Policies page.

  • epyc
    • Nodes: r21-r38
    • CPU: AMD
    • Supported Extensions1: AVX, AVX2, SSE, SSE2, SSE4
    • RAM: 1 GB default
    • Feature Constraints: ryzen
    • Time (walltime): 168 hours (7 days) default
  • intel
    • Default partition
    • Nodes: i01-02,i17-i40
    • CPU: Intel
    • Supported Extensions1: AVX, AVX2, SSE, SSE2, SSE4
    • RAM: 1 GB default
    • Feature Constraints: intel
    • Time (walltime): 168 hours (7 days) default
  • batch
    • Nodes: c01-c48
    • CPU: AMD
    • Supported Extensions1: AVX, SSE, SSE2, SSE4
    • RAM: 1 GB default
    • Feature Constraints: amd
    • Time (walltime): 168 hours (7 days) default
  • highmem
    • Nodes: h01-h06
    • CPU: Intel
    • Supported Extensions1: AVX, SSE, SSE2, SSE4
    • RAM: 100 GB to 1000 GB
    • Feature Constraints: mem
    • Time (walltime): 48 hours (2 days) default
  • gpu
    • Nodes: gpu01-gpu06
    • CPU: AMD/Intel
    • GPUs: NVIDIA K80, A100, P100
    • RAM: 1 GB default
    • Feature Constraints: gpu
    • Time (walltime): 48 hours (2 days) default
  • short
    • Nodes: Mixed set of nodes from batch, intel, and group partitions
    • Cores: AMD/Intel
    • RAM: 1 GB default
    • Time (walltime): 2 hours Maximum
  • Lab Partitions
    • If your lab has purchased nodes then you will have a priority partition with the same name as your group (ie. girkelab).

In order to submit a job to different partitions add the optional ‘-p’ parameter with the name of the partition you want to use:

sbatch -p batch SBATCH_SCRIPT.sh
sbatch -p highmem SBATCH_SCRIPT.sh
sbatch -p epyc SBATCH_SCRIPT.sh
sbatch -p gpu SBATCH_SCRIPT.sh
sbatch -p intel SBATCH_SCRIPT.sh
sbatch -p mygroup SBATCH_SCRIPT.sh

Slurm

Slurm is used as a queuing system across all head nodes. SSH directly into the cluster and your connection will be automatically load balanced to a head node:

ssh -XY cluster.hpcc.ucr.edu

Resources and Limits

To see your limits you can do the following:

slurm_limits

Check total number of cores used by your group in the all partitions:

group_cpus

However this does not tell you when your job will start, since it depends on the duration of each job. The best way to do this is with the “–start” flag on the squeue command:

squeue --start -u $USER

Submitting Jobs

There are 2 basic ways to submit jobs; non-interactive and interactive. Slurm will automatically start within the directory where you submitted the job from, so keep that in mind when you use relative file paths.

Non-interactive Submission

Non-interactive jobs are submitted as SBATCH scripts, an example is as follows:

sbatch SBATCH_SCRIPT.sh

Here is an example of an SBATCH script:

#!/bin/bash -l

#SBATCH --nodes=1
#SBATCH --ntasks=1
#SBATCH --cpus-per-task=10
#SBATCH --mem=10G
#SBATCH --time=1-00:15:00     # 1 day and 15 minutes
#SBATCH --mail-user=useremail@address.com
#SBATCH --mail-type=ALL
#SBATCH --job-name="just_a_test"
#SBATCH -p epyc # You can use any of the following; epyc, intel, batch, highmem, gpu

# Print current date
date

# Load samtools
module load samtools

# Concatenate BAMs
samtools cat -h header.sam -o out.bam in1.bam in2.bam

# Print name of node
hostname

The above job will request 1 node, 10 cores (parallel threads), 10GB of memory, for 1 day and 15 minutes. An email will be sent to the user when the status of the job changes (Start, Failed, Completed). For more information regarding parallel/multi core jobs refer to Parallelization.

Interactive Submission

Interactive jobs are submitted using srun. An example is as follows:

srun --pty bash -l

If you do not specify a partition then the “hpcc_default” partition is used by default.

Here is a more complete example:

srun --mem=1gb --cpus-per-task 1 --ntasks 1 --time 10:00:00 --x11 --pty bash -l

The above example enables X11 forwarding and requests 1GB of memory and 1 core for 10 hours within an interactive session.

Monitoring Jobs

To check on your jobs states, run the following:

squeue -u $USER --start

To list all the details of a specific job (the JOBID can be found using squeue), run the following:

scontrol show job JOBID

To view past jobs and their details, run the following:

sacct -u $USER -l

You can also adjust the start -S time and/or end -E time to view, using the YYYY-MM-DD format. For example, the following command uses start and end times:

sacct -u $USER -S 2018-01-01 -E 2018-08-30 -l | less -S # Type 'q' to quit

Custom command for summarizing activity of all users on cluster

jobMonitor # or qstatMonitor

Canceling Jobs

In cancel/stop your job run the following:

scancel JOBID

You can also cancel multiple jobs:

scancel JOBID1 JOBID2 JOBID3

If you want to cancel/stop/kill ALL your jobs it is possible with the following:

# Be very careful when running this, it will kill all your jobs.
squeue --user $USER --noheader --format '%i' | xargs scancel

For more information please refer to Slurm scancel documentation.

Optimizing Jobs

After a job has been completed, you can use seff ## ("##" being your Slurm Job ID) to check how many resources your job consumed during it’s run. seff is only useful after a job has completed, and will not give useful information on currently-running jobs.

For example:

$ seff 123123

Job ID: 123123
Cluster: hpcc
User/Group: your_username/yourlab
State: COMPLETED (exit code 0)
Nodes: 1
Cores per node: 20
CPU Utilized: 03:26:14
CPU Efficiency: 95.04% of 03:37:00 core-walltime
Job Wall-clock time: 00:10:51
Memory Utilized: 81.20 GB
Memory Efficiency: 81.20% of 100.00 GB

In the above example, we can see good utilization of the CPU cores (95%) as well as good utilization of memory usage (81%).

If CPU Efficiency is low, make sure that the program(s) you are running makes use of multi-threading correctly. Requesting more cores for a job will not make your program run faster if it does not properly take advantage of them.

If Memory Efficiency is low, then you can try reducing the requested memory for a job. Note: Just because you see your job uses 81.20GB of memory does not mean that next time you should request exactly 81.20GB of memory. Variations in input data will cause different memory usage characteristics. You should try to aim to request ~20% higher memory then will actually be used to account for any spikes in memory usage. Slurm might miss some quick spikes of memory usage, but the Operating System will not. In this regard it’s better to overestimate on initial runs, and scale back once you find a good limit.

Advanced Jobs

There is a third way of submitting jobs by using steps. Single Step submission:

srun <command>

Under a single step job your command will hang until appropriate resources are found and when the step command is finished the results will be sent back on STDOUT. This may take some time depending on the job load of the cluster. Multi Step submission:

salloc -N 4 bash -l
srun <command>
...
srun <command>
exit

Under a multi step job the salloc command will request resources and then your parent shell will be running on the head node. This means that all commands will be executed on the head node unless preceeded by the srun command. You will also need to exit this shell in order to terminate your job.

Array Jobs

If a large batch of fairly similar jobs need to be submitted, an Array Job might be a good option. For an array job, include the --array parameter in your sbatch script, similar to the following:

#!/bin/bash
#SBATCH --nodes=1
#SBATCH --ntasks=1
#SBATCH --cpus-per-task=2     # This will be the number of CPUs per individual array job
#SBATCH --mem=1G     # This will be the memory per individual array job
#SBATCH --time=0-00:15:00     # 15 minutes
#SBATCH --array=1-2500
#SBATCH --job-name="just_a_test"

echo "I have array ID ${SLURM_ARRAY_TASK_ID}"

Within each job, the SLURM_ARRAY_TASK_ID environment variable is set and can be used to slightly change how each job is run.

More information can be found on the Slurm Documentation including other Environment Variables that are set per-job.

Highmem Jobs

The highmem partition does not have a default amount of memory set, however it does has a minimum limit of 100GB per job. This means that you need to explicity request at least 100GB or more of memory.

Non-Interactive:

sbatch -p highmem --mem=100g --time=24:00:00 SBATCH_SCRIPT.sh

Interactive

srun -p highmem --mem=100g --time=24:00:00 --pty bash -l

Of course you should adjust the time argument according to your job requirements.

GPU Jobs

GPU nodes have multiple GPUs, and vary in type (K80, P100, or A100). This means you need to request how many GPUs and of what type that you would like to use.

To request a gpu of any type, only indicate how many GPUs you would like to use.

Non-Interactive:

sbatch -p gpu --gres=gpu:1 --mem=100g --time=1:00:00 SBATCH_SCRIPT.sh

Interactive

srun -p gpu --gres=gpu:4 --mem=100g --time=1:00:00 --pty bash -l

Since the HPCC Cluster has three types of GPUs installed (K80s, P100s, and A100s), GPUs can be requested explicitly by type.

Non-Interactive:

sbatch -p gpu --gres=gpu:k80:1 --mem=100g --time=1:00:00 SBATCH_SCRIPT.sh
sbatch -p gpu --gres=gpu:p100:1 --mem=100g --time=1:00:00 SBATCH_SCRIPT.sh
sbatch -p gpu --gres=gpu:a100:1 --mem=100g --time=1:00:00 SBATCH_SCRIPT.sh

Interactive

srun -p gpu --gres=gpu:k80:1 --mem=100g --time=1:00:00 --pty bash -l
srun -p gpu --gres=gpu:p100:1 --mem=100g --time=1:00:00 --pty bash -l
srun -p gpu --gres=gpu:a100:1 --mem=100g --time=1:00:00 --pty bash -l

Of course you should adjust the time argument according to your job requirements.

Once your job starts your code must reference the environment variable “CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES” which will indicate which GPUs have been assigned to your job. Most CUDA enabled software, like MegaHIT, will check this environment variable and automatically limit accordingly.

For example, after reserving 4 GPUs for a NAMD2 job:

echo $CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES
0,1,2,3
namd2 +idlepoll +devices $CUDA_VISIBLE_DEVICES MD1.namd

Each group is limited to a maximum of 8 GPUs on the gpu partition. Please be respectful of others and keep in mind that the GPU nodes are a limited shared resource. Since the CUDA libraries will only run with GPU hardware, development and compiling of code must be done within a job session on a GPU node.

Here are a few more examples of jobs that utilize more complex features (ie. array, dependency, MPI etc): Slurm Examples

Web Browser Access

Ports

Some jobs require web browser access in order to utilize the software effectively. These kinds of jobs typically use (bind) ports in order to provide a graphical user interface (GUI) through a web browser. Users are able to run jobs that use (bind) ports on a compute node. Any port can be used on any compute node, as long as the port number is greater than 1000 and it is not already in use (bound).

Tunneling

Once a job is running on a compute node and bound to a port, you may access this compute node via a web browser. This is accomplished by using 2 chained SSH tunnels to route traffic through our firewall. This acts much like 2 runners in a relay race, handing the baton to the next runner, to get past a security checkpoint.

Running the following command on your local machine will create a tunnel that goes though a headnode and connect to a compute node on a particular port.

ssh -NL 8888:NodeName:8888 username@cluster.hpcc.ucr.edu

Port 8888 (first) is the local port you will be using on your local machine. NodeName is the compute node where where job is running, which can be found by using the squeue -u $USER command. Port 8888 (second) is the remote port on the compute node. Again, the NodeName and ports will be different depending on where your job runs and what port your job uses.

At this point you may need to provide a password to make the SSH tunnel. Once this has succeeded, the command will hang (this is normal). Leave this session connected, if you close it your tunnel will be closed.

Then open a browser on your local computer (PC/laptop) and point it to:

http://localhost:8888

If your job uses TSL/SSL, so you may need to try https if the above does not work:

https://localhost:8888

Examples

  1. A perfect example of this method is used for Jupyter Lab/Notebook. For more details please refer to the JupyterLab Usage page.

  2. RStudio Server instances can also be started directly on a compute node and accessed via an SSH tunnel. For details see here.

Desktop Environments

VNC Server (cluster)

Start VNC Server

Log into the cluster:

ssh username@cluster.hpcc.ucr.edu

The first time you run the vncserver it will need to be configured:

vncserver -fg

You should set a password for yourself, and the read-only password is optional.

Then configure X Startup with the following command:

echo '/usr/bin/ssh-agent /usr/bin/dbus-launch --exit-with-session /usr/bin/gnome-session --session=gnome-classic' > /rhome/$USER/.vnc/xstartup

After your vncserver is configured, submit a vncserver job to get it started:

sbatch -p short,epyc --cpus-per-task=4 --mem=10g --time=2:00:00 --wrap='vncserver -fg' --output='vncserver-%j.out'

Note: Appropriate job resources should be requested based on the processes you will be running from within the VNC session.

Check the contents of your job log to determine the NodeName and Port you were assigned:

cat vncserver-*.out

The contents of your slurm job log should be similar to the following:

vncserver

New 'i54:1' desktop is i54:1

Creating default startup script /rhome/username/.vnc/xstartup
Starting applications specified in /rhome/username/.vnc/xstartup
Log file is /rhome/username/.vnc/i54:1.log

The VNC Port used should be 5900+N, N being the display number mentioned above in the format NodeName:DisplayNumber (ie. i54:1). In this example (default), the port is 5901, if this Port were already in use then the vncserver will automatically increment the DisplayNumber and you might find something like i54:2 or i54:3 and so on.

Stop VNC Server

To stop the vncserver, you can click on the logout option from the upper right hand menu from within your VNC desktop environment. If you want to kill your vncserver manually, then you will need to do the following:

ssh NodeName 'vncserver -kill :DisplayNumber'

You will need to replace NodeName with the node name of your where your job is running, and the DisplayNumber with the DisplayNumber from your slurm job log.

VNC Client (Desktop/Laptop)

After you know the NodeName and VNC Port you should be able to create an SSH tunnel to your vncserver, like so:

ssh -N -L Port:NodeName:Port cluster.hpcc.ucr.edu

Now let us create an SSH tunnel on your local machine (desktop/laptop) using the NodeName and VNC Port from above:

ssh -L 5901:i54:5901 cluster.hpcc.ucr.edu

After you have logged into the cluster with this shell, log into the node where your VNC server is running:

ssh NodeName

After you have logged into the correct NodeName, just let this terminal sit here, do not close it.

Then launch vncviewer on your local system (laptop/workstation), like so:

vncviewer localhost:5901

After launching the vncviewer, and providing your VNC password (not your cluster password), you should be able to see a Linux desktop environment.

For more information regarding tunnels and VNC in MS Windows, please refer More VNC Info.

Parallelization

There are 3 major ways to parallelize work on the cluster:

  1. Batch
  2. Thread
  3. MPI

Parallel Methods

For batch jobs, all that is required is that you have a way to split up the data and submit multiple jobs running with the different chunks. Some data sets, for example a FASTA file is very easy to split up (ie. fasta-splitter). This can also be more easily achieved by submitting an array job. For more details please refer to Advanced Jobs.

For threaded jobs, your software must have an option referring to “number of threads” or “number of processors”. Once the thread/processor option is identified in the software, (ie. blastn flag -num_threads 4) you can use that as long as you also request the same number of CPU cores (ie. slurm flag --cpus-per-task=4).

For MPI jobs, your software must be MPI enabled. This generally means that it was compiled with MPI libraries. Please refer to the user manual of the software you wish to use as well as our documentation regarding MPI. It is important that the number of cores used is equal to the number requested.

In Slurm you will need 2 different flags to request cores, which may seem similar, however they have different purposes:

  • The --cpus-per-task=N will provide N number of virtual cores with locality as a factor. Closer virtual cores can be faster, assuming there is a need for rapid communication between threads. Generally, this is good for threading, however not so good for independent subprocesses nor for MPI.
  • The --ntasks=N flag will provide N number of physical cores on a single or even multiple nodes. These cores can be further away, since the need for physical CPUs and dedicated memory is more important. Generally this is good for independent subprocesses, and MPI, however not so good for threading.

Here is a table to better explain when to use these Slurm options:

Slurm FlagSingle ThreadedMulti Threaded (OpenMP)MPI onlyMPI + Multi Threaded (hybrid)
--cpus-per-taskXX
--ntasksXX

As you can see:

  1. A single threaded job would use neither Slurm option, since Slurm already assumes at least a single core.
  2. A multi threaded OpenMP job would use --cpus-per-task.
  3. A MPI job would use --ntasks.
  4. A Hybrid job would use both.

For more details on how these Slurm options work please review Slurm Multi-core/Multi-thread Support.

MPI

MPI stands for the Message Passing Interface. MPI is a standardized API typically used for parallel and/or distributed computing. The HPCC cluster has a custom compiled versions of MPI that allows users to run MPI jobs across multiple nodes. These types of jobs have the ability to take advantage of hundreds of CPU cores symultaniously, thus improving compute time.

Many implementations of MPI exists, however we only support the following:

For general information on MPI under Slurm look here. If you need to compile an MPI application then please email support@hpcc.ucr.edu for assistance.

When submitting MPI jobs it is best to ensure that the nodes are identical, since MPI is sensitive to differences in CPU and/or memory speeds. The batch and intel partitions are designed to be homogeneous, however, the short partition is a mixed set of nodes. When using the short partition for MPI append the constraint flag for Slurm.

Short Example

Here is an example that shows how to ensure that your job will only run on intel nodes from the short partition:

sbatch -p short --constraint=intel myJobScript.sh

NAMD Example

To run a NAMD2 process as an OpenMPI job on the cluster:

  1. Log-in to the cluster

  2. Create SBATCH script

    #!/bin/bash -l

#SBATCH -J c3d_cr2_md
#SBATCH -p epyc
#SBATCH --ntasks=32
#SBATCH --mem=16gb
#SBATCH --time=01:00:00

# Load needed modules
# You could also load frequently used modules from within your ~/.bashrc
module load slurm # Should already be loaded
module load openmpi # Should already be loaded
module load namd

# Run job utilizing all requested processors
# Please visit the namd site for usage details: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/namd/
mpirun --mca btl ^tcp namd2 run.conf &> run_namd.log

  3. Submit SBATCH script to Slurm queuing system

    sbatch run_namd.sh

Maker Example

OpenMPI does not function properly with Maker, you must use MPICH. Our version of MPICH does not use the mpirun/mpiexec wrappers, instead use srun:

#!/bin/bash -l

#SBATCH -p epyc
#SBATCH --ntasks=32
#SBATCH --mem=16gb
#SBATCH --time=01:00:00

# Load maker
module load maker/2.31.11

mpirun maker # Provide appropriate maker options here

More examples

The range of differing jobs and how to submit them is endless:

1. Singularity containers
2. Database services
3. Graphical user interfaces
4. Etc ...

For a growing list of examples please visit HPCC Slurm Examples.

  1. These only list the most common CPU Extensions for each platform. A full list of supported extensions can be found using the lscpu command on the respective node type. ↩︎

Last modified October 3, 2024: Update jobs.md (a19c98e1d)